The Rat and the World Series

         Lou Gerard was a cameraman for NBC. One night, he was standing behind his camera in back of the scoreboard at Fenway Park in Boston. NBC was broadcasting game six of the 1975 World Series between Cincinnati and Boston.

         The game had gone into extra innings. Lou heard something squeaking in the dark shadows. He looked for his flashlight; shining the light, he spotted the biggest rat he had ever seen.

         His director, Harry Coyle, called to him on his headset, “I want you to follow the flight of the ball if the batter hits it.”

         Petrified, Lou called back on his headset microphone, "Harry, the biggest rat in the world is in here with me. He is as big as a cat. I don't know if I can move the camera.

         Coyle asked, "What are you going to do?"

         Lou replied, "Maybe, I can just stay on the batter and see what happens."

         And he did.

         What followed became one of the most iconic television images in history. The batter was the Red Sox’s Carlton Fisk. Fisk hit a game-winning home run, and Gerard’s camera captured Fisk pleading with the ball to stay fair.

         Sometimes, our best work is a serendipity of our adversity.

Source: THE LONG BALL by Tom Adelman